Mirrors of Envy
by Lppurplegirl11
Summary: It's no secret that Joey and Kaiba have never been friends. But when Mokuba ends up in the hospital, Kaiba becomes a mess and Joey may be the only one who can get through to him. Joey's POV.


We're all human, even when we're not. I know this for a fact. I knew it when I saw Mokuba lying in a hospital bed unable to move. I knew it when I saw Kaiba sitting in the corner with a distant face and blood-shot eyes. Even at a time like this he's too proud to just let it out. It's funny- in the non-funny sorta way.

I got the call early in the morning. Mokuba is sick, please come visit. He'll want to see his friends when he wakes up. If he wakes up. So of course I ask "What happened?" And they tell me that he and Kaiba were relaxing on their yacht when he fell overboard. He hit the water with a hard _slap_, face down right into rolling waves. They sucked up his tiny body and thrashed him around so hard he couldn't even scream. By the time they got him back onboard, he was literally almost dead. He's been comatose ever since.

We stood there in the hospital room, surrounding him. It was quiet. The kind of quiet that leaves a big hole in your chest because you know something is wrong and there isn't a damn thing you can say to make it right. I tried to imagine how Kaiba must've felt but when I put myself in his shoes and thought about Serenity, I couldn't even handle the thought.

Then the nurse came in. She walked over to Kaiba and tapped him on the shoulder. He was awake but mentally who knows where he was. "Hey," she said in a gentle voice. "You've been here for a long time now. You should go home and get some rest. Take a shower, get some fresh clothes on."

He just grunted and turned away. "Kaiba," Yugi spoke up. "We're all here with him. It's okay if you leave for a little while."

"Come on, moneybags. You've been here for three days. I think we all agree you could use a shower," I said with a weak smile. I could tell he was mulling it over. I never thought I could feel bad for a guy like him, but he was so torn.

"Alright," Kaiba said. "I'll go. If Mokuba wakes up, tell him I'll be back soon." His voice was barely a whisper. We nodded and he walked towards the door.

At that point, I don't know what the hell came over me, but I called out after him. "Hold on a sec!"

He turned back to look at me, one eyebrow raised. "What do you want?"

"I'll go with you."

"No."

"I'm not really givin' you a choice."

Kaiba didn't bother saying anything to that. The only fight left in him was staying alive for Mokuba. He walked out and I followed closely behind. Neither of us said anything.

We took his limo back to Kaiba Manor. That was the first chance I got to really look at his face up close. He looked like a zombie. Judging from the big dark circles under his eyes, he probably hadn't slept since the accident. I didn't want to make it obvious that I was staring at him so I dropped my gaze. I saw his hands. The nails were bitten into bloody stumps across all ten fingers. I wasn't even sure if he noticed their constant tremble. It was scary. I didn't even like Kaiba and I was still afraid for him.

I wanted to reach out to him, not as a friend, but as someone with a little sibling of their own. Within a few minutes, we arrived. We stepped inside the mansion and I won't lie and say that I wasn't jealous. It was freaking huge and some of the paintings in there were probably worth enough to pay my rent for a year. I followed him up some fancy spiral staircase to his room.

He gathered up clean clothes and looked back at me. "Why are you even here?"

I shrugged. "Support, I guess."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Like I need support from the dweeb patrol. Since when do you care?"

I clenched my fist at my sides. Don't get mad. Don't get mad. "I don't care. About you, anyway. I want to make sure you're okay for Mokuba's sake." That was almost the truth. I usually didn't care about him. Usually. But there are just some things you wouldn't wish to happen, even to your rivals.

After that, he went back to ignoring me. Figuring I might as well make myself useful, I went to his bathroom and got everything ready for his shower. I snickered to myself and started snooping around, hoping to find something embarrassing. I mean, everyone has something to hide. What would Kaiba be hiding? Rash creams? Dirty magazines?

A dull ache spread through my shaking stomach. I could hardly contain my laughter. Can you imagine Seto Kaiba owning something like that? There would be no way! If I found that, he would never hear the end of it. I hate to admit it, but I have a lot of fun arguing with that jerk.

Wiping a few tears away, I peeked inside the medicine cabinet, crossing my fingers for rash cream. Instead what I found was a tiny orange bottle of anxiety medication. A dejected sigh escaped me. Maybe there was more to Kaiba than I thought. Or wanted to think. Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching so I scrambled to put the medicine back in the cabinet.

"What are you doing?" Kaiba asked, his voice dripping with suspicion.

"N-nothing. Just getting everything ready for you."

He squinted his eyes at me. His gaze traveled throughout the room. When it landed on the cabinet, he hesitated. Did he know? "What, are you going to help bathe me too?" he snapped. "Get out!"

His sudden aggression sent chills down my spine. Shit, he did know. It was like someone flipped a switch or something. But why didn't he say anything about it? Then I realized it. He was ashamed.

I waited for him on his bed and began to wonder if coming here was a mistake. The whole situation was so awkward. I knew something no one, maybe not even Mokuba, was supposed to know. Apprehension rose in my stomach as I heard the shower stop. A few minutes later, Kaiba emerged from the bathroom and stared at me like he wanted to say something.

"Don't worry. I won't say anything to anyone," I muttered.

He shifted uncomfortably. "You should have just minded your own business."

"I know. I'm sorry… There's nothing wrong with needing that stuff you know. You don't have to be embarrassed."

It was silent for a long time before he spoke up again. "It makes me weak."

I chuckled. "You're really too hard on yourself, you know that?"

"I'm not hard on myself," he spoke bitterly. "Life is the one who's hard on me. You wouldn't understand anything about that."

I looked up at him. "Oh yeah? I'm stuck living in hell with an alcoholic gambler who makes me work to pay off his debts. At least your dick of a stepfather is dead. If I don't make enough to cover my dad's debt and our rent, we're both on the street. At least you have a stable roof over your head. I haven't seen my sister in months. I'd give anything just to know how her day was. At least you get to see your little brother every day."

Kaiba's eyes widened. I expected him to just brush me off but I guess it was too much to handle after so long. "Yes, I get to see Mokuba every day. You know why? Because I'm basically a single parent. I'm raising him by myself. His entire future is in my hands. My fucked up hands! At least the way your dad lives is the product of his own decisions. If Mokuba ends up failing, it's because I didn't do something right."

I never thought of it that way. It just seemed so natural to always see them together and how close they were, that I never thought about the burden it would be on Kaiba. I was stunned. But he wasn't done yet.

"From the time I was ten, I was forced to study every waking moment so that I could be KaibaCorp.'s CEO. I still have nightmares of the things Gozaburo used to do to me. At least you got to have a childhood. I never got the chance to be a kid or talk to others my age. Now I'm so socially inept that, yeah, I get anxious because I know that one day Mokuba will grow up and leave and I will have _absolutely nobody_. At least you have people around you that genuinely care, that don't want you for status or money. They want you for you."

By this time Kaiba's chest was heaving. My voice was barely a whisper. "We would be your friends if you just let us."

He shook his head. "No. That's not true. You'd be my friend if I stopped being so mean and stopped being 'too hard on myself'. If you guys _really_ wanted to be my friends you would say 'Kaiba's mean. Kaiba's hard on himself. _But we like him anyway_'. And you don't say that because you want me to change. I don't need your friendship, I need you guys to stop acting like the good guys when you aren't as kind as you think you are."

"I didn't think of it that way."

"Of course you didn't."

"I'm sorry, Kaiba. I really am."

His gaze was down, towards the floor. The person standing in front of me wasn't the Kaiba I thought I knew. It was the real him. Not the CEO, but the teenager just like the rest of us. It was unsettling. Like jumping into a puddle and finding yourself in the ocean.

I spent the entire time I've known him being jealous of what he had. He had money, the thing I need to fix my life at home. He got to spend every moment with his brother and I never got to see Serenity. My life was chaos and I envied his stability. I could've never imagined that the entire time, he was jealous of me too.

"But why me?" I asked him. "I'm not the only one that has things you don't have. So why do you hate me more than anyone else?"

"Everything I hate about myself, I see in you. You're too proud, too stubborn, you're a victim of an abusive parental figure. We're too much alike."

I looked him in the eye. "If that's the case, maybe you shouldn't push away the only person who might understand you."

"Earlier you said you didn't care about me," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Earlier I didn't know who you were."

I stood up and walked towards the door, gesturing him to follow me. "Let's get back to the hospital." The limo ride back was just as quiet as on the way to Kaiba Manor. Only this time, there was so much tension in the air, you could practically cut it with a knife. We walked silently back up to Mokuba's hospital room but I stopped just before going inside. There was one last thing I still had to say.

"I know we aren't exactly friends… But I do care," I mumbled with embarrassment. "If the time ever comes when you want a friend, I'll take you as you are." I gave him one last sheepish grin and pushed the door open.

"Hey! Welcome back," Tristan said.

Téa balled her fist in excitement. "Guess who's awake!"

Kaiba's demeanor changed entirely. His shoulders perked up, his eyes gleamed, everything about him changed in an instant. Mokuba smiled weakly at him, motioning for him to come closer. The older Kaiba obliged, rushing to his brother's side as fast as he could. It was different seeing him kissing Mokuba's forehead and brushing his fingers through that tangled mass of raven hair. Different, but sweet.

"Come on, guys," Yugi said. "Let's give them some alone time. We can always come back tomorrow. Get well soon, Mokuba!"

We nodded in agreement and shuffled out the door. "Hold it, Wheeler," Kaiba called after me.

I turned around, not sure what to expect.

At first he hesitated. "I… appreciate you being there. Even though I haven't been civil to you in the past. Thanks, mutt— Joey, I mean."

"Any time, Seto."

"Don't push it," he said with a small smile. _He actually smiled._

It must've snuck up on me because before I knew it, I was smiling too.

* * *

**A/N: I've always liked playing around with the relationship between Joey and Kaiba. Neither are exactly what they seem so I figured their relationship isn't either.**

**It was really fun for me to write so I hope it was fun for you to read c:**


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